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James Madison "Trout Out of the Classroom" Visits USGS Leetown

posted by George Paine
on Fri, 09/21/2018 - 15:08

USGS and NVATU Team Up

USGS Leetown Science Center is a big supporter of NVATU. Early this year members of the NVATU leadership team were invited to tour this facility. The day was hosted by Tom O’Connell, Director of the facility . He presented at one of your monthly member meetings. At this meeting he had the opportunity to meet the participants of the James Madison program. As a result, he extended and invitation to the students to come and tour the Science Center.

On July 17th, Mary Waclawski, Katelynn Waclawski, Yusef Essawi , Alex Habibi and Lynn Waclawski (chaperone) came to Leetown and presented their program to a number of the scientist and where given a working tour of the facility. Representing NVATU were Jay Lovering, Tim Quinn, Kirk Smith and Bill Errico. Our host for the day was Kay Marano Briggs, PhD, Branch Chief , National Fish Health Research Laboratory. Assisting Kay were LSC staff, Craig Snyder (worked with the students in the bug lab), Deborah Iwanowicz (did genetics work with students), Christine Densmore (spoke on fish health and invasive species and conducted a tour of the lab talking about the different fish species we house here), and Frank Roach (Frank and his volunteers helped students while fishing)

At the conclusion of the scientific portion of the day the students along with some of the college interns at Leetown were given some basic casting lessons and fish a stocked pond on site.
Initially, the students were reluctant but once they started catching fish you could not get them away from the water. Once you see the size of the fish they were catching you will understand why.
Click on this link for more details on the SEA Programhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/budding-scientists-try-to...
The USGS Leetown Science Center (LSC) provides science to better enable local, state and federal managers address the complex conservation and management needs of our nation’s fish including their health and habitat. The Center’s research focuses on addressing the scientific needs of fishery managers along the Eastern U.S.; however, some unique scientific capabilities often lead to research of national and international significance. Major areas or research include: fish biology and aquatic ecology (with a strong emphasis on brook trout and headwater habitats), conservation of migratory fish, aquatic animal health and disease, imperiled species and invasive species, and conservation genetics. The researchers at the LSC understand the significance of their responsibility for providing high-quality science to conserve and manage our nation’s fisheries resources for generations of today and tomorrow. Many researchers are sports fishers themselves, and they have dedicated their professional careers towards providing managers with the information they need to ensure our kids and grandkids can have the same, and hopefully better, fishing experiences as we have had. The LSC Headquartered in Leetown, WV just 15 minutes west of Shepherdstown, WV with two satellite laboratories in Wellsboro, PA and Turner Falls, MA, the LSC team stands ready to work with Trout Unlimited and others who share in our natural resource stewardship responsibility. More information can be found at the LSC website: https://cms.usgs.gov/centers/lsc.